In the case of an injured artery of any considerable size, the amount of pressure required to stop the bleeding will arrest all circulation of blood in the limb, so that great damage, as well as pain, will ensue if it be continued more than an hour or two, and during this time the limb should be kept warm by thick covering and hot-water bags, if they can be obtained.
Bleeding from a deep puncture may be stopped by plugging the cavity with strips of muslin which have been boiled, or with absorbent cotton, similarly treated, keeping the plug in place by snug bandaging.
BLEEDING FROM PUNCTURED WOUND.
First Aid Rule 1.—Extract pin, tack, nail, splinter, thorn, or bullet, IF YOU CAN SEE BULLET; do not probe.
Rule 2.—Pour warm water on wound and squeeze tissue to encourage bleeding. Send for small hard-rubber syringe.
Rule 3.—If deep, plug it with absorbent cotton, and put tight bandage over plug. If shallow, cover with absorbent cotton wet with boric-acid solution (one dram to one-half pint of water), or carbolic-acid solution (one teaspoonful to the pint of hot water).
Rule 4.—When syringe comes, remove dressing, and clean wound by forcibly syringing carbolic solution directly into wound. Replace dressing.
A small punctured wound should be squeezed in warm water to encourage bleeding and, if pain and swelling ensue, absorbent cotton soaked in a boric-acid solution (containing as much boric acid as the water will dissolve) or in carbolic-acid solution (one teaspoonful of pure acid to the pint of warm water) should be applied over the wound and covered with oil silk or rubber or enamel cloth for a few days, or until the soreness has subsided. The dressing should be wet with the solution as often as it becomes dry. Punctures by nails, especially if deep, should be washed out with a syringe, using one of the solutions just mentioned. A medicine dropper, minus the rubber part, attached to a fountain syringe, makes a good nozzle for this purpose. A moist dressing, like the one described, should then be applied, and the limb kept in perfect rest for a few days.
When a surgeon's services are available, however, self-treatment is attended with too much danger, as a thorough opening up of such wounds with proper cleansing and drainage will afford a better prospect of early recovery, and avert the risk of serious inflammation and lockjaw, which sometimes follow punctured wounds of the hands and feet. Foreign bodies, as splinters, may be removed with tweezers or a needle, being careful not to break the splinter in the attempt. If a part remains in the flesh, or if the foreign body is a needle that cannot be found or removed at once, the continuous application of a hot flaxseed or other poultice will lead to the formation of "matter," with which the splinter or needle will often escape after a few days. Splinters finding their way under the nail may be removed by scraping the nail very thin over the splinter and splitting it with a sharp knife down to the point where the end of the splinter can be grasped.
BLEEDING IN FORM OF OOZING.